We are happy that we joined Alternativi International in the project Digital Youth Work, which took part from 4th until 11th of June in Bansko, Bulgaria. The Digital Youth work project focused on understanding digital youth work, digital learning and online activism as concepts for NGOs, presenting innovative tools that can be applied in everyday youth work, sharing good practices from all over Europe, increasing the knowledge and skills of youth workers to use digital technologies for better volunteer management, internal communication, online activism, online communication and also reaching more young people from marginalized communities through digital tools.
The overall goal of the project was to provide youth workers and NGOs with adequate and up-to-date tools: digital knowledge, skills, competencies and experience in youth work for more effective inclusion of young people, especially those who are marginalized.
Through the implementation of the project, we have raised awareness among NGOs and youth workers about the importance of digital tools to reach today's modern young people in a much easier and more effective way. Participants were introduced to good practices of digital tools to support their daily work with young people, to manage volunteers more effectively, to communicate with team members, partners and volunteers, for online activism and project management.
By introducing concepts for digital youth work, good practices in the field, specific digital tools, knowledge and information on digitalisation, we have invested in the quality of young workers and therefore participating NGOs, which has affected the quality of services for young people they offer.
By acquiring digital knowledge, skills and competencies in working with young people, youth coordinators and workers became more effective in their daily work with young people, began to communicate more easily online, acquired skills for organizing online campaigns through which they can reach young people. In addition, this project has given a boost to some of the NGOs involved starting transforming their services for young people, thus becoming more effective and able to meet the needs of today's youth.
Some of the other important results of the project are:
-Strengthening the capacity of youth NGOs by equipping their staff with skills and knowledge so that they can integrate technologies and digital tools into everyday youth work
-We were able to provide a deeper understanding of the concept of digital youth work, digital education, online activism and to provoke participants to be more active online
- We also managed to increase the skills and knowledge of volunteer management through digital tools such as Trello, Asana, etc., online activism and online communication.
As part of the project a digital guide for youth workers with some useful information, resources, tools and tips, related to digital education, online activism and digital youth work and will be shared free online very soon so stay tuned!